Sabre

Expediting and simplifying the reservation process, Sabre effectively opened the doors of air travel to the masses. Today, booking a flight at the last minute or months in advance takes only a few minutes.

Air travel for all

Prior to the Sabre era, the cost of air travel was much too expensive for most would-be customers. Advances in technology and a move from fixed to competitive pricing transformed the airline customer demographic from the wealthy elite to a viable form of mass transportation (1966).

Online reservations personified

The online travel reservation system, Travelocity, which sprung from Sabre technology, has elected as its spokesperson as the Roaming Gnome—a lawn ornament figure that reports on low fares from distant locations across the world. The gnome appears to be of English descent, but his frequent travels certainly make him a global citizen.

A Sabre connection

James Burke, notable British historian of science, elegantly integrated the Sabre chestnut story—the chance meeting, on an American Airlines flight in 1953, of C. R. Smith, president of American Airlines, and R. Blair Smith, a senior sales representative for IBM—into Connections, a sequel to his popular television documentary series that delved into what Burke considered the random “connections” of people and their interests that resulted in historic innovations.